Amazon deforestation drops to six-year low

Amazon deforestation in Brazil fell two-thirds between July 2022 and July 2023, hitting the lowest level since 2017, according to preliminary data from the Brazilian government.

The data, released by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), indicate that about 192 square miles of forest were cleared last month, compared to 574 square miles last July. The full data is set to be published in the days ahead, with leaders of countries that cover parts of the rainforest set to convene for a summit in Brazil next week.

The data appears to show a significant shift after Brazil’s hard-right former president Jair Bolsonaro lost re-election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in October 2022.

Bolsonaro’s presidency saw deforestation ramp up in South America’s largest country, increasing by 88 percent increase in his first year alone. 

In contrast, Lula identified protection of the Amazon as a major goal for his return to the presidency, announcing a target of zero deforestation by the end of the decade. He also re-established the nation’s pre-Bolsonaro carbon emission targets under the Paris Climate Agreement. 

The data comes just over a month after a report from the World Resource Institute’s Global Forest Watch indicated rainforest loss increased about 10 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. Brazil led the countries studied in deforestation, according to the report, with losses comprising the equivalent of more than half its annual fossil fuel output. 

As the world’s largest tropical forest, the Amazon is a key carbon sink, an area that absorbs and stores carbon from the atmosphere. However, a combination of deforestation, droughts and temperature increases threaten to transition tropical forests to net sources of carbon emissions. A 2021 study published in the journal Nature indicated the Amazon itself has declined as a carbon sink due to a combination of forest clearing and climate change.